Page 70 of Ever Dark

As we wind our way there, he glares at me in the rearview mirror.

“What is it?” I snap.

“You don’t have to be like your father or your grandmother. You don’t have to be like any of them. You’re still a Blackwell.”

I snicker. “You know better than that, old man. This is who I am. Who I was always meant to be.”

He shakes his head. “You can still fight the darkness. It doesn’t have to consume you.”

“It already has.”

As he nears Harker Mansion, he slows the car. “There’s still time to let her out and drive away.”

I shoot daggers at him, my silence giving him all the answers he needs.

“I’m grateful you’ve kept my secret all these years, but you will never understand what it’s like to have a soul like mine. To have this part of you that is always stretching toward an empty abyss.”

He blows out a deep breath as he turns down Mia’s road. “And you think forcing this woman to give you her land is going to ease that burden? Control is an illusion. That poison is a temporary high and when it wears off, your soul will be far darker for having done this.”

I don’t fucking care.“I’m not trying to ease my fucking burdens. I’m embracing them.” The Harkers are the reason I even fucking exist. It’s time for them to answer for their sins too.

He looks back at the road and nods. “Very well.”

I hate it when he dismisses me. I can feel the disappointment oozing off him, and it stings worse than nightshade.

When we pull up to the gates of Harker mansion, I lean out the window to punch in the code. A breeze of jasmine envelops me, and my heart flutters. The creaking of the iron stretching and shifting to beckon us forward sends my pulse racing even more. I curse under my breath, dreading the hold that this place has on me. Thatshehas on me.

“Stay in the car, and do not move, no matter what you hear.”

Rodrick nods but says nothing. It’s far worse than when he scolds me. But I’m glad that he remembers his place. Despite his help raising me, he is still under my employ.

I hop out and gaze at the baneberry fields for a moment. Even in the dark of night I can see their silhouettes dancing in the wind, illuminated by the moonlight. And for a split second, I wish that they belonged to anyone else but her. Not that it would make any difference. Monsters like me don’t deserve love or kindness or romantic gestures. I drink, I fuck, and I wallow. No woman would ever choose to endure that.

I motion for Rodrick to pop the trunk.

“Motherfucker!” Mia swings both her legs out and kicks me in the chest.

“Fuck,” I grunt out as I stumble back.

She barrels out of the trunk and breaks into a sprint toward her front door.

The black sludge in my veins swirls, fueling my rage. “You can run, but you can’t fucking hide, Mia,” I yell back at her.

If I wasn’t trying to stifle this woman, I might be impressed by her fire and determination. Her stubbornness. I never have liked a demure, helpless woman.

I chase after her, reaching her before she can turn the key. I embrace her from behind, pin her arms to her sides, and yank her back. “After you sign the papers, I’m going to bury you in the crypt with the rest of your wretched family,” I growl in her ear.

She kicks up her legs and uses the door as leverage to pushagainst. We go flying back and land hard on the wet ground below the stairs. All the air whooshes out of my lungs, and I lose my grip on her.

“Bones isn’t the only one who knows how to fight, fucker.” She scrambles up the stairs and manages to open the door this time while I’m still wheezing on the ground.

Our little lamb’s been holding back.

I glance back to see Rodrick watching from the car. “Wipe that smirk off your face, old man.”

Fucking imbecile. And I mean me, not him. I should be more on guard with her.

“Mia!” I charge after her, wedging my foot in the door before she can close it behind her. She slams it against my foot and takes off running again.

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